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2019 Gets Off to a Jumpy Start in January

The new year promises a lot of hope and opportunity for growth. Jupiter is in its sign of rulership, Sagittarius, for most of 2019 (11/8/18 – 12/2/19). This is the planet of optimism in the sign of expansion. Yet there are precarious periods when it’s better to lay low than forge ahead. January is such a time.

As January gets going, two planetary turning points pack a wallop. When planets begin or end their apparent backward motion (retrograde), they seem to stand still for days (called “on station”), which intensifies their influence. Uranus, acting like an alarm clock to shake and wake us, shifts from reverse to forward motion on 1/6, less than 24 hours after a Solar Eclipse New Moon on 1/5. On 1/10, dwarf planet Eris, known for being warlike and disruptive, does likewise. In between, the most trying combination of the year kicks into high gear, the Jupiter-Neptune square on 1/9.

It may help that the New Moon is in stable Capricorn and very close to (less than 3° from) Capricorn’s ruling planet, Saturn. This influence offers grounding in common sense and tradition, or restraint by virtue of rules. Saturn keeps Jupiter reined in (at least a bit) via a mild semisextile (30°) connection. Neptune two signs from (sextile) the Sun, Moon and Saturn contributes a touch of softness but can’t be very helpful since it’s in a jarring relationship with Uranus (see next paragraph). A nice Water sign trine (120°) from Venus in Scorpio to Chiron in Pisces supplies sympathy and could help reduce the impact of financial bumps. Venus is one of two money planets while Chiron is an asteroid with a healing “repairman” function. But they’re up against some heavyweights.

An insidious influence from two slow-moving planets sets a snare into which quicker planets fall. From the second half of 2017 into the first half of 2019, Uranus and Neptune form a grating connection (semisquare) five times. The most recent instance on 12/15/18 is still reverberating. These two planets are within 1° of their exact 45° relationship from 11/13/18 to 1/27/19. (The next occurrence is the finale on 5/1/19 (with a repeat of their 1° range this spring from 3/19 to 5/30.) Uranus brings shocks and surprises. Neptune acts out of sight and sneaks up on you. Their combined effect spawns great confusion and instability. For instance, the 2018 Janet’s Plan-its warned of “volatility in commodities and the stock market” from their interaction. Well, we’ve been having that! Big Jupiter amplifies the problems when it interacts with Uranus and Neptune on 1/9 and 1/13, respectively (as it will again 6/6 and 6/16). Speedy planets join the fray: Venus and the Sun, traveling 45° apart, form a tangled mess with these three 1/18 – 1/22 (including at the Lunar Eclipse Full Moon on 1/21) and Mercury follows suit 1/23 – 1/24 for a wild roller coaster week. Situations come to a head at a full moon, even more so at an eclipse.

Eclipses occur when the Sun and Moon line up with the lunar Nodes, the directional indicators showing our path for spiritual or cultural development. Currently the North Node in Cancer aims us toward caring for home, family and nation, moving us away from the domination by corporations and government associated with the South Node in Capricorn. Uranus is halfway in between, forming a T-square (which marks a turning point) with the Sun, Moon and Nodes. Their effect is not a gentle nudge but more like a slap in the face. The question is whether Neptune’s collaboration will bring empathy for desperate situations or signal an escapist ignoring of troubles. Think of how Al Gore warned us years ago of the “inconvenient truth” of global warming and how still some people think there’s no problem or that we have all the time in the world to save our planet from devastation. We’re hearing from the scientists now that we do not. It’s time to raise awareness, maybe through a march or something like a Climate Aid concert. Or Mother Nature may supply inspiration through a calamity.

Maybe we can muster up a sense of urgency. Mars, the planet of action, is in its sign of rulership, Aries, from 12/31/18 to 2/14/19, bringing agitation and impatience. There’s also a tendency to jump the gun (and perhaps toward more gun violence since Mars and Aries rule weapons and attacks). Fortunately, Mars does not interact with the Uranus-Neptune semisquare or we’d be on the lookout for trouble from religious rebels. (Uranus rules revolutionaries and Neptune rules belief systems.) Instead, at the lunar eclipse, Mars is in harmonious relationships with Jupiter (trine) and Neptune (semisextile), mitigating the difficulties posed by the Jupiter-Neptune square. Neptune is related to fears on one side of its coin and faith on the other. When Jupiter expands these in January, we’ll see extremes of both expressions, twisted weirdly as a result of the involvement of Uranus, planet of the unusual. Mars encourages us to take action rather than being frozen in apprehension. See if you can figure out something positive to do to help in the areas in which you’re involved. Together, we can make a difference.

Although, the new year holds some good prospects, carefully choosing when to act will help ensure success in your endeavors. Take advantage of the recommendations in the Janet’s Plan-its Best & Worst Days of 2019 list, a free downloadable PDF. And mark your appointment calendar with the Janet’s Plan-its 2019 Day Ratings or print the free 12-month list to carry with you. Add luck to your plans using the power of the Plan-its!

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LIVING WITH MERCURY RETROGRADE

Sooner or later, everyone has to deal with Mercury Retrograde (explained in detail in my article Mercury Retrograde). The general recommendation is to keep your wits about you and be willing to revise or redo.

Every three months or so, the “trickster” planet Mercury appears to move backward through the zodiac for about three weeks. Since it’s the planet of communication and local transportation – key matters in our everyday lives – it can have a strong impact! Sometimes, you’ll hardly notice its effects, but when the range of degrees where it backtracks connects to your chart strongly, you’ll definitely feel its influence. The most intense effect occurs at the degree where Mercury appears to stop to change direction, called the “station.” For about a week centering on the date of the directional change, Mercury remains nearly motionless in that degree. [Check if any Mercury station degrees hit your chart using the Janet’s Plan-its “On a Page” bar graphs.]

The time frame for Mercury’s discombobulating effects is not just during the three weeks it’s actually moving in reverse. It also includes a period of about 2-1/2 weeks before and afterward as Mercury moves forward through the range of degrees of its retrograde. These are known as the entry and exit “shadow” periods. Actions undertaken in the shadow before the retrograde (entry shadow) often require revision or modification in the retrograde back-up period and in the shadow following the backtrack (exit shadow). When Mercury links to your chart, it makes three “hits” – one before the retrograde, one during and one after. So the overall time frame lasts for about two months altogether, with about two months free and clear between bouts.

Things that occur during a Mercury Retrograde can have a long-lasting impact. One important example that comes to mind is the US presidential election of 2000, which occurred as Mercury stood still ending a Retrograde backtrack. The recount mess during the exit shadow resulted in a Supreme Court ruling decided by one vote that resulted in denying Al Gore his victory. Think of how different our world would be now if we had had an environmentally friendly president at the start of this millennium!

When we take into account the weeks and months before and after a person’s birth, long-term experiences of Mercury Retrograde come into play. The astrological technique called “progressions” correlates the consecutive days after one’s birth with the consecutive years of one’s life, on a day-for-a-year basis. (See “Making Progress – Astrologically” in the Study Booth Articles.) With this forecasting system, if you are both during a Mercury Retrograde, sometime in your first 22 years, you move past its strongest effects, but it still takes another decade-plus to get out of its “shadow.” You could be live through decades when your progressed Mercury goes through the entire cycle of entry shadow, retrograde and exit shadow. If you’re born just after an exit shadow, in your later life you enter a shadow. The only people who avoid any extended period of Mercury Retrograde or its shadows by progression are those born after an exit shadow and who die before the next entry shadow. So chances are, you’ll have to live a while with some influence from a Mercury Retrograde.

The extended, progressed version of the Mercury Retrograde cycle is not easily observable on a day-to-day basis. Long-term trends or projects are where we see it at work. Since it’s an influence inclining us to re-do or go back to something, the progressed Mercury Retrograde is a period to undertake an activity or project you wanted to do before but didn’t get around to, or to complete something that was unfinished. Mercury is associated with the hands, so the Retrograde is a good time to learn something new that’s done with the hands, such as a craft or playing an instrument.

I can say for myself that I have progressed Mercury Retrograde from 2002 to 2022. I always wanted to be a writer and during this time, I created my Janet’s Plan-its calendars and they grew to be quite a detailed and involved annual book. Since they became a lot of work that is only meaningful for a brief period of time (a year), before I finish my retrograde I want to complete a book that won’t “expire.” This is a key reason I decided to forego writing more calendars and focus on other writing and other means of communication. Another thing I attribute to my progressed Mercury Retrograde period is that for the past few years, I’ve noticed I frequently, unconsciously hold my lips closed and retract them inward. For someone who’s been pretty “big-mouthed” most of my life, this is an interesting change!

If you want to learn about your natal and progressed Mercury, you can look in an ephemeris to see what was going on in the months before and after your birth and compare Mercury Retrograde station degrees to your natal chart. In a full general reading, I always look at that for a client, or it can easily be covered in a mini-reading with me. (Contact me and we’ll set something up.) We’ll discuss how you can “live with Mercury Retrograde.”

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Fighting For Freedom with Uranus at the Aries/Taurus Cusp

The new U.S. embassy opened in Jerusalem amidst Palestinian protests. This should be no surprise to those following astrology as Uranus – a planet of prodding, shock and progress – enters Taurus, the Sun Sign of the nation of Israel (founded May 14, 1948 by a United Nations resolution). Israel turned 70 the last day Uranus was in Aries. When Uranus returns to this degree on Election Day, November 6, 2018, perhaps moving the embassy and any resulting turmoil will be an issue in the mid-term elections. Or there may be a connected development around then.

Early in Uranus’s visit to Aries, the “Arab Spring” brought shifts in power in parts of the Middle East. If we look at the globe from a “geodetic” viewpoint (which assigns the 360 degrees of longitude, east from Greenwich, England, to the 360 degrees of the zodiac), we see that some of the Arab world (most of Algeria, all of Libya and part of Egypt) falls in the first 30 degrees ascribed to Aries. But more of the Middle East is in the Taurus sector (longitudes 30 to 60 degrees East, covering Syria, Israel, Iraq, the Arabian peninsula and most of Iran). It’s likely things will heat up in this region over the coming seven years as rebellious Uranus passes through Taurus. Even though as a sign, Taurus is resistant to change, Uranus is an unstoppable force.

The final degree of a sign brings a karmic test. For Uranus in Aries, it’s about people being free to make their choices and even just to survive (a key Aries activity) – it’s existential. Hence the Palestinians protesting the encroachment of the Israelis into the land they view as theirs. And now the United States is taking sides in the dispute. There will be consequences, although those will take some time to play out. The initial hints may come immediately as Mercury, the messenger planet associated with news, reaches 5 degrees of Taurus (the geodetic location of Jerusalem) on May 16, concurrent with the exact Mars-Uranus square (90-degree stand-off), which on its own indicates “the natives are restless.” The bigger changes will come when Uranus passes through this degree (6/13/19, 10/12/19 and 4/2/20 – three times because of retrograde zigzagging).

Meanwhile, also on the last day of Uranus in Aries, another example of people fighting for their survival hits closer to home. The LA Times reported, “Hundreds of poor and low-wage workers, clergy and activists were arrested Monday outside the U.S. Capitol and at statehouses across the country as they kick-started a revival of the Poor People’s Campaign — the civil disobedience movement founded 50 years ago by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” Rev. William J. Barber II, the “Moral Mondays” pastor from North Carolina and the campaign’s co-chair, called for a “revolution of values.” Well, that sounds exactly like Uranus, planet of revolution, in Taurus, the sign of values! I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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New Year Begins with a Bang!

What a way to kick off a new year! A Full Moon on New Year’s Day [6:24 pm (P) 9:24 pm (E)] in feminine, nurturing Cancer sets the tone for 2018. The Sun and Venus are closely joined (less than 2º apart), offering plenty of love and an inclination for peace, which can be achieved via respect and order, traits of the Capricorn sign where they’re positioned. Venus is exactly halfway between Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn at their midpoint, a place where their energies fuse. This indicates we can use our hearts for Pluto’s changes to Saturn’s systems and status quo, coming from a place of love. That’s the plus side. If expressed negatively, hard-hearted frugality, greed and Plutocracy will inflict a destructive influence. Kindness is more likely to rule the day, assisted by a wonderful Grand Trine (the best blending of planetary forces) between the Cancer Moon, compassionate Neptune in Pisces and a pairing of Jupiter and Mars (portending big action) in transformative Scorpio, which the Sun and Venus expand into a Kite pattern, giving the Grand Trine’s benevolence a lift. There’s a lot for which to be hopeful in 2018!

[This is an excerpt from the Overview of 2018 in the forthcoming ebook Janet’s Daily Plan-its 2018, by Janet Booth, which will be issued in the first week of 2018.]

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Saturn enters Capricorn at Winter Solstice

The winter solstice comes around every year on the shortest day and longest night. The Sun, in its annual circling of the zodiac, begins a new season as enters the first sign of winter. In the northern hemisphere, that’s Capricorn. The “ruling planet” (like an emissary) of Capricorn is Saturn. It visits its home sign for 2-3 years of its roughly 30-year orbit. The Sun and Saturn don’t enter any sign simultaneously on any regular schedule. It fact, this team-up is extremely rare! A search of 1,000 years (1500 – 2500) turned up only four instances of Saturn at the zero degree of Capricorn as the Sun joins it on the winter solstice: 1664, 1870, 2017 and 2370. As this marker in the heavens portends, we are in a truly historic moment.

I don’t know what happened at the prior two occurrences, but let’s look at what I wrote (in September 2016) about this solstice for my Janet’s Plan-its 2017 Celestial Planner:

This may be one of the most significant seasons in decades! Whatever begins (and a lot will be initiated in this New Moon phase) can have sweeping effects because Saturn, ruler of winter’s first sign, has just entered Capricorn and occupies the zero degree, indicating worldwide impact. It’s teamed with the Sun (associated with leaders); big decisions are in the works. The Moon (representing the public) is in Aquarius, sign of the masses and a rebellious sign. Two planets in Scorpio, the sign of economics, play key roles. Mars squares the Moon: “natives are restless” and could be resentful and aggressive. Jupiter at the powerful middle degree of Scorpio is semisquare the Sun and Saturn, creating a conflict between expanding and holding back. This could pose problems for the class with money and power depending on the help they give those in need. Sympathy comes from Jupiter trine Neptune. Venus (planet of personal assets) connects to the Uranus-Chiron semisextile: there will be surprises in finances, but not all bad. Perceptions are clouded with Mercury Retrograde and square to vague Neptune.

Now that the moment has arrived, we see there is indeed a big decision with far-reaching impact, with a leader in the middle of it. It’s the passage of the USA’s sweeping tax reform, pleasing the rich and vexing the rest, amidst angry public protests and abysmal poll numbers for the plan. Scorpio is the sign related to taxes and insurance, and the tax cut bill contained the twofer of removing the underpinning of the Affordable Care Act ( “Obamacare”) by dropping the tax penalty for not having health insurance (the “individual mandate”). This effect of the new law was hardly reported. In fact, President Trump admitted he wanted to keep it quiet.1 The Mercury-Neptune square aspect is famous for deception or at least, misdirection, like a magician’s act: “Look over here at this hand” while the other hand is doing something sneaky, preparing to fool you. The Jupiter-Neptune trine did not seem to deliver sympathy so much as amplify the reverse Robin Hood con: the deficit could increase more than 10% of its current $10+ trillion2 in order to provide 80% of the tax cut benefits to 1% of taxpayers.3 Even the tax breaks foreigners get on investments in the USA is more generous than the deal is more average hardworking Americans. Individuals’ financial picture, signified by Venus, has a Uranian sudden impact, expressed in a Chiron fashion, either hurtful or helpful. As the asteroid Chiron’s nickname, the “wounded healer,” suggests, the new law gives some people a boost and for others, it will be a bust. Mercury Retrograde suggests the whole plan will come up for review and revision sometime down the road.

Using the July 4, 1776 birthday, the USA was born during a Mercury Retrograde period and frequently revisits decisions and policies. A natural time to revise this policy would be when the next major planet crosses through the zero degree of Capricorn. That will be Jupiter on Dec. 2, 2019. And at that time, Mars, the planet of battles, will have made its biannual lap around the zodiac and will be basically where it is at this winter solstice (only two degrees away). The drama that begins now is apt to see another act then. Oh, that sounds like another prediction.

 

1 “We didn’t want to bring it up. I told people specifically ‘be quiet with the fake news media because I don’t want them talking too much about it.’” http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/20/politics/donald-trump-thinks-he-tricked-everyone-into-repealing-obamacare/index.html

2 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/28/us/politics/tax-bill-deficits.html

3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/29/gop-tax-plan-would-provide-major-gains-for-richest-1-percent-and-uneven-benefits-for-the-middle-class-report-says/?utm_term=.d955ba58c67e

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